Contract leak reveals LIV golfers must assist in poaching players
While a book could – and inevitably will – be written about the never-ending controversies of LIV Golf, one aspect which has come under recent scrutiny has been the exact stipulations of player contracts.
During the first of many trials to come involving LIV’s defectors – where a trio of players failed to win an injunction to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs – a huge bombshell was dropped suggesting players’ earnings are counted against upfront money.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and a leaked LIV contract draft obtained by the Wall Street Journal has now revealed several fascinating player obligations, including that they must assist in recruiting other golfers when called upon.
According to the draft, LIV golfers are expected to, “assist the league operator in seeking to persuade players to enter into multiyear player participation agreements with the league operator.” In other words, LIV golfers must help in trying to recruit new players if requested – something for which Phil Mickelson was suspended by the PGA Tour back in March.
On top of the revelation, the WSJ report details players are instructed to refrain from giving interviews without the league’s permission, and that they must wear LIV apparel when playing in any tournament while requesting to wear non-LIV clothing.
The draft did not disclose any further information relating to paywall structure, but it was also revealed players can earn a $1 million bonus if they win one of the four majors – something which may tempt heavily-linked Cameron Smith even further.
And, if that wasn’t enough, we might soon be getting the full lowdown on LIV’s player contracts, as per the report, a judge is expected to rule on a motion by the PGA Tour to disclose the full contracts next week, meaning we might finally get to the bottom of those controversial paywall stipulations.
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George Cooper
A golf fanatic his entire life, George Cooper is NCG's man for all goings-on at the top level of the game, whether it's the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA or LIV Golf. He also looks after NCG's Twitter and Facebook accounts. George is a member of Woburn, but is not friends with Ian Poulter.
